Pope Concludes Successful Visit to Lebanon

Pope Benedict XVI called for “the cessation of all violence” in the Middle East yesterday at the final Mass of his successful three-day visit to Lebanon, his twenty-fourth trip outside of Italy.  Full texts of the Pope's messages, along with videos and photos from the apostolic journey to Lebanon are available here.

Pope Benedict's Apostolic Journey to Lebanon (14-16 September 2012)

Meeting with the youth from the Maronite Patriarchate of Bkerké (15 September 2012)

 

Music by Libera - "Sanctus"

 

 

From the Pastor - "Ephphatha"

A weekly column by Father George Rutler.

Our parish is blessed with many musicians, some of whom you may recognize from the concert halls and opera, and others who visit when they are in the city. I am two handshakes from Puccini, because his granddaughter introduced herself to me after Mass one day. That greatest violinist, Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) grew up in Vienna in a musical home that Brahms occasionally visited, and he studied under Bruckner and Massenet as a child prodigy. His father was physician to Sigmund Freud, who couldn’t understand why the boy wanted to be a musician. That little boy shook all those hands. Bishop Fulton Sheen, who often assisted and preached here, received Kreisler and his wife Harriet into the Church. Shortly before he died, Kreisler lost his sight and hearing in an automobile accident. Bishop Sheen said that in his dying days Kreisler “radiated a gentleness and refinement not unlike his music.”

There is a story that Kreisler saved his money as a young man to buy a fine violin, only to find that it had already been sold to a wealthy collector of musical instruments, who kept it in a locked cabinet. The man refused to sell it, although he could not play it himself, but he let Kreisler play it to see how it sounded. The collector was so moved that the instrument could “sing” that he let Kreisler have it. By the end of Kreisler’s life, in addition to his beloved Vuillaume violin, which was his constant “second fiddle,” he owned several Stradivari, Guarneri and Bergonzi violins, almost all named for him. The tale of the collector is sometimes told of others, but the point has universal application as a parable of ourselves. We exist, but we only come fully alive through God’s grace, and when Christ enters the soul, it is like being taken out of a locked cabinet and being able to sing. This is the portent of St. Irenaeus of Lyons’ assertion: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” And, by the way, on a more exalted plane than my two handshakes from Puccini, Irenaeus was two handshakes from the Apostle John, who saw the Risen Lord.

That Lord once told a deaf man, “Ephphatha.” Pope Benedict XVI has said: “. . . this little word, Ephphatha – “Be opened” – sums up Christ’s entire mission. He became man so that man, made inwardly deaf and dumb by sin, would become able to hear the voice of God, the voice of love speaking to his heart, and learn to speak in the language of love, to communicate with God and with others. For this reason, the word and the gesture of Ephphatha are included in the Rite of Baptism, as one of the signs that explain its meaning: the priest touching the mouth and ears of the newly baptized says: “Ephphatha,” praying that they may soon hear the Word of God and profess the Faith.”

Art of the Western World - Episode 3: A White Garment of Churches

This is the third episode in our weekly series, BBC's Art of the Western World.  Previous episodes of this beautiful series are here:

Part 1; Part 2

"It's Déjà Vu All Over Again".

Pope Begins Visit to Lebanon with Message of Peace

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Lebanon on Friday to urge peace at a time of great turmoil in the Middle East, saying the import of weapons to Syria during the country's civil war is a "grave sin."

The three-day visit comes at a time of turmoil in the region -- the civil war in neighboring Syria and in the aftermath of a mob attack that killed several Americans in Libya, including the U.S. ambassador.

The pontiff was welcomed by top leaders including the Lebanese president, prime minister and parliament speaker as well as Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Cannons fired a 21-shots salute for the pope.

The pope told reporters on the plane that imports of weapons to Syria is a "grave sin."

Syria's rebels have appealed for weapons shipments to help them fight the regime.

The visit brings the pope to the nation with the largest percentage of Christians in the Mideast -- nearly 40 percent of Lebanon's 4 million people, with Maronite Catholics the largest sect. Lebanon is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state.

Lebanese authorities are enacting stringent security measures, suspending weapons permits except for politicians' bodyguards and confining the visit to central Lebanon and the northern Christian areas.

Army and police patrols were stationed along the airport road, which was decorated with Lebanese and Vatican flags as well as posters of the pope and "welcome" signs in different languages.

Benedict told reporters on the plane that he was not afraid to visit Lebanon. He also described the Arab Spring that has already removed four long-serving dictators as "positive."

"It is the desire for more democracy, for more freedom, for more cooperation and for a renewed Arab identity," the pope said. "He warned against the risk that the push for more freedom could end intolerance for other religions.

The pope said he never considered canceling the trip for security reasons, adding that "no one ever advised (me) to renounce this trip and personally, I have never considered this."

The pope denounced religious fundamentalism calling it "a falsification of religion"

Benedict, the third pope to visit Lebanon after Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 1997, will be addressing concerns by the region's bishops over the plight of Christians in the Middle East. War, political instability and economic hardships have driven thousands from their traditional communities, dating to early Christianity in the Holy Land, Iraq and elsewhere.

"Let me assure you that I pray especially for the many people who suffer in this region," he said upon arrival.

The Vatican initially stressed Benedict's push for inter-faith dialogue in the wake of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens' death in a mob attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, earlier this week. But on Thursday the Holy See toughened its response, firmly condemning the attack and saying nothing can justify such acts of terrorism or violence.

The papal visit comes amid fears that Syria's conflict might spill over to Lebanon. Clashes in Lebanon between Syrian groups over the past months have claimed the lives of more than two dozen people and left scores wounded.

 The Christian community in Lebanon is divided between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Among Assad's supporters is former Lebanese prime minister and army commander Michel Aoun, a strong ally of the militant Hezbollah group. Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah welcomed the pontiff's visit, describing it as "extraordinary and historic."

Is It Time to Come Home?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

Is it not long past time to do a cost-benefit analysis of our involvement in the Middle and Near East?

In this brief century alone, we have fought the two longest wars in our history there, put our full moral authority behind an "Arab Spring" that brought down allies in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, and provided the air power that saved Benghazi and brought down Moammar Gadhafi.

Yet this week U.S. embassies were under siege in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, and U.S. diplomats were massacred in Benghazi.

The cost of our two wars is 6,500 dead, 40,000 wounded and $2 trillion piled onto a national debt that is $16 trillion, larger than the entire U.S. economy. And what in heaven's name do we have to show for it?